|Número de publicación||US7525983 B2|
|Tipo de publicación||Concesión|
|Número de solicitud||US 10/894,827|
|Fecha de publicación||28 Abr 2009|
|Fecha de presentación||20 Jul 2004|
|Fecha de prioridad||21 Jul 2003|
|También publicado como||US8081650, US20050018621, US20090316592|
|Número de publicación||10894827, 894827, US 7525983 B2, US 7525983B2, US-B2-7525983, US7525983 B2, US7525983B2|
|Inventores||Frank R. Dropps, Edward C. Ross, William J Gustafson|
|Cesionario original||Qlogic, Corporation|
|Exportar cita||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan|
|Citas de patentes (118), Otras citas (99), Citada por (23), Clasificaciones (10), Eventos legales (3)|
|Enlaces externos: USPTO, Cesión de USPTO, Espacenet|
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) (1) to the following provisional patent applications:
Filed on Sep. 19, 2003, Ser. No. 60/503,812, entitled “Method and System for Fibre Channel Switches”;
Filed on Jan. 21, 2004, Ser. No. 60/537,933 entitled “Method And System For Routing And Filtering Network Data Packets In Fibre Channel Systems”;
Filed on Jul. 21, 2003, Ser. No. 60/488,757, entitled “Method and System for Selecting Virtual Lanes in Fibre Channel Switches”;
Filed on Dec. 29, 2003, Ser. No. 60/532,965, entitled “Programmable Pseudo Virtual Lanes for Fibre Channel Systems”;
Filed on Sep. 19, 2003, Ser. No. 60/504,038, entitled” Method and System for Reducing Latency and Congestion in Fibre Channel Switches;
Filed on Aug. 14, 2003, Ser. No. 60/495,212, entitled “Method and System for Detecting Congestion and Over Subscription in a Fibre channel Network”
Filed on Aug. 14, 2003, Ser. No. 60/495,165, entitled “LUN Based Hard Zoning in Fibre Channel Switches”;
Filed on Sep. 19, 2003, Ser. No. 60/503,809, entitled “Multi Speed Cut Through Operation in Fibre Channel Switches”
Filed on Sep. 23, 2003, Ser. No. 60/505,381, entitled “Method and System for Improving bandwidth and reducing Idles in Fibre Channel Switches”;
Filed on Sep. 23, 2003, Ser. No. 60/505,195, entitled “Method and System for Keeping a Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop Open During Frame Gaps”;
Filed on Mar. 30, 2004, Ser. No. 60/557,613, entitled “Method and System for Congestion Control based on Optimum Bandwidth Allocation in a Fibre Channel Switch”;
Filed on Sep. 23, 2003, Ser. No. 60/505,075, entitled “Method and System for Programmable Data Dependent Network Routing”;
Filed on Sep. 19, 2003, Ser. No. 60/504,950, entitled “Method and System for Power Control of Fibre Channel Switches”;
Filed on Dec. 29, 2003, Ser. No. 60/532,967, entitled “Method and System for Buffer to Buffer Credit recovery in Fibre Channel Systems Using Virtual and/or Pseudo Virtual Lane”
Filed on Dec. 29, 2003, Ser. No. 60/532,966, entitled “Method And System For Using Extended Fabric Features With Fibre Channel Switch Elements”
Filed on Mar. 4, 2004, Ser. No. 60/550,250, entitled “Method And System for Programmable Data Dependent Network Routing”
Filed on May 7, 2004, Ser. No. 60/569,436, entitled “Method And System For Congestion Control In A Fibre Channel Switch”
Filed on May 18, 2004, Ser. No. 60/572,197, entitled “Method and System for Configuring Fibre Channel Ports” and
Filed on Dec. 29, 2003, Ser. No. 60/532,963 entitled “Method and System for Managing Traffic in Fibre Channel Switches”.
The disclosure of the foregoing applications is incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fibre channel systems, and more particularly to virtual lane selection in fibre channel switches.
2. Background of the Invention
Fibre channel is a set of American National Standard Institute (ANSI) standards, which provide a serial transmission protocol for storage and network protocols such as HIPPI, SCSI, IP, ATM and others. Fibre channel provides an input/output interface to meet the requirements of both channel and network users.
Fibre channel supports three different topologies: point-to-point, arbitrated loop and fibre channel fabric. The point-to-point topology attaches two devices directly. The arbitrated loop topology attaches devices in a loop. The fibre channel fabric topology attaches host systems directly to a fabric, which are then connected to multiple devices. The fibre channel fabric topology allows several media types to be interconnected.
Fibre channel is a closed system that relies on multiple ports to exchange information on attributes and characteristics to determine if the ports can operate together. If the ports can work together, they define the criteria under which they communicate.
In fibre channel, a path is established between two nodes where the path's primary task is to transport data from one point to another at high speed with low latency, performing only simple error detection in hardware.
Fibre channel fabric devices include a node port or “N_Port” that manages fabric connections. The N_port establishes a connection to a fabric element (e.g., a switch) having a fabric port or F_port. Fabric elements include the intelligence to handle routing, error detection, recovery, and similar management functions.
A fibre channel switch is a multi-port device where each port manages a simple point-to-point connection between itself and its attached system. Each port can be attached to a server, peripheral, I/O subsystem, bridge, hub, router, or even another switch. A switch receives messages from one port and automatically routes it to another port. Multiple calls or data transfers happen concurrently through the multi-port fibre channel switch.
Fibre channel switches use memory buffers to hold frames received and sent across a network. Associated with these buffers are credits, which are the number of frames that a buffer can hold per fabric port.
Often a fibre channel switch is coupled between devices that use varying data rates to transfer data. The mis-match in the data transfer rates can result in inefficient use of the overall bandwidth. An illustration of this problem is shown in
As is shown in
Fibre channel switches use “virtual lanes” to allocate receive credits at an E_port. Virtual lanes are a portion of the data path between a source and destination port. Credits are allocated into groups so that a fast device sending data to a slow device does not consume all of the receive credits and cause bandwidth degradation.
The fibre channel standard does not provide any guidance as to how virtual lanes should be assigned or programmed.
Conventional switches use a destination identifier (“D_ID” a routing address in the frame header defined by fibre channel standards) to assign virtual lanes. This by itself is not very efficient or adaptive because fabric topology can vary and D_ID may not be the best parameter for virtual lane assignmemnt.
Therefore, what is required is a process and system that efficiently maps frames into virtual lanes to maximize bandwidth based on fabric topology.
A method for assigning virtual lanes (VL) in a fibre channel switch is provided. The method includes, determining if VL assignment is to be based on an incoming frame parameter or a programmed value; determining if an incoming frame is a preferred frame; and assigning a preferred routing priority if the incoming frame is designated as a preferred frame.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, a method for assigning virtual lanes, based on fabric topology is provided. The method includes, determining if a fabric topology is known; and assigning virtual lanes based on a known fabric topology.
In yet another aspect, a system for assigning virtual lanes in a fibre channel switch is provided. The system includes, a virtual lane cache that can compare incoming frame parameters based on which virtual lanes may be assigned; and a register to store parameters used for virtual lane assignment.
In yet another aspect, a method for selecting virtual lanes in a fibre channel switch is provided. The method includes, determining if a virtual lane is to be assigned based on a control register value or a virtual lane cache value; and determining if a frame is to be given routing priority over other frames. A frame's S_ID, D_ID, OX_ID or VSAN_ID may be used to assign virtual lanes.
In yet another aspect, a method for adjusting virtual lane credit for fibre channel switches is provided. The method includes, determining if virtual lanes are enabled with virtual lane compression; and mapping VC_RDYs, if virtual lane compression is enabled.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, a system for collecting virtual lane statistics in a fibre channel switch element is provided. The system includes plural counters for collecting information regarding a virtual lane, including a credit counter for monitoring virtual lane credit.
This brief summary has been provided so that the nature of the invention may be understood quickly. A more complete understanding of the invention can be obtained by reference to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments thereof concerning the attached drawings.
The foregoing features and other features of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings of a preferred embodiment. In the drawings, the same components have _the same reference numerals. The illustrated embodiment is intended to illustrate, but not to limit the invention. The drawings include the following Figures:
FIGS. 1E-1/1E-2 (jointly referred to as
FIGS. 3A/3B (jointly referred to as
FIGS. 4A/4B (jointly referred to as
The following definitions are provided as they are typically (but not exclusively) used in the fibre channel environment, implementing the various adaptive aspects of the present invention.
“E-Port”: A fabric expansion port that attaches to another Interconnect port to create an Inter-Switch Link.
“F_Port”: A port to which non-loop N_Ports are attached to a fabric and does not include FL_ports.
“Fibre channel ANSI Standard”: The standard describes the physical interface, transmission and signaling protocol of a high performance serial link for support of other high level protocols associated with IPI, SCSI, IP, ATM and others.
“FC-1”: Fibre channel transmission protocol, which includes serial encoding, decoding and error control.
“FC-2”: Fibre channel signaling protocol that includes frame structure and byte sequences.
“FC-3”: Defines a set of fibre channel services that are common across plural ports of a node.
“FC-4”: Provides mapping between lower levels of fibre channel, IPI and SCSI command sets, HIPPI data framing, IP and other upper level protocols.
“Fabric”: The structure or organization of a group of switches, target and host devices (NL_Port, N_ports etc.).
“Fabric Topology”: This is a topology where a device is directly attached to a fibre channel fabric that uses destination identifiers embedded in frame headers to route frames through a fibre channel fabric to a desired destination.
“FL_Port”: A L_Port that is able to perform the function of a F_Port, attached via a link to one or more NL_Ports in an Arbitrated Loop topology.
“Inter-Switch Link”: A Link directly connecting the E_port of one switch to the E_port of another switch.
Port: A general reference to N. Sub.—Port or F.Sub.—Port.
“L_Port”: A port that contains Arbitrated Loop functions associated with the Arbitrated Loop topology.
“N-Port”: A direct fabric attached port.
“NL_Port”: A L_Port that can perform the function of a N_Port.
“Switch”: A fabric element conforming to the Fibre Channel Switch standards.
“VL” (Virtual Lane): A virtual portion of the data path between a source and destination port each having independent buffer to buffer flow control.
Fibre Channel System:
To facilitate an understanding of the preferred embodiment, the general architecture and operation of a fibre channel system will be described. The specific architecture and operation of the preferred embodiment will then be described with reference to the general architecture of the fibre channel system.
The devices of
Fabric Switch Element
The fabric element of the present invention is presently implemented as a single CMOS ASIC, and for this reason the term “fabric element” and ASIC are used interchangeably to refer to the preferred embodiments in this specification. Although
ASIC 20 has 20 ports numbered in
For illustration purposes only, all GL ports are drawn on the same side of ASIC 20 in
Each port GL0-GL19 has transmit and receive connections to switch crossbar 50. One connection is through receive buffer 52, which functions to receive and temporarily hold a frame during a routing operation. The other connection is through a transmit buffer 54.
Switch crossbar 50 includes a number of switch crossbars for handling specific types of data and data flow control information. For illustration purposes only, switch crossbar 50 is shown as a single crossbar. Switch crossbar 50 is a connectionless crossbar (packet switch) of known conventional design, sized to connect 21×21 paths. This is to accommodate 20 GL ports plus a port for connection to a fabric controller, which may be external to ASIC 20.
In the preferred embodiments of switch chassis described herein, the fabric controller is a firmware-programmed microprocessor, also referred to as the input/out processor (“IOP”). IOP 66 is shown in
Control register 62 receives and holds control information from IOP 66, so that IOP 66 can change characteristics or operating configuration of ASIC 20 by placing certain control words in register 62. IOP 66 can read status of ASIC 20 by monitoring various codes that are placed in status register 64 by monitoring circuits (not shown).
Each GL port has an optical-electric converter, designated as OE0-OE19 connected with its SERDES through serial lines, for providing fibre optic input/output connections, as is well known in the high performance switch design. The converters connect to switch channels C0-C19. It is noteworthy that the ports can connect through copper paths or other means instead of optical-electric converters.
FIG. 1E-1/1E-2 (jointly referred to as
Control port module 62A includes control buffers 62B and 62D for transmit and receive sides, respectively. Module 62A also includes a PCI interface module 62C that allows interface with IOP 66 via a PCI bus 66A.
XG_Port (for example 74B) includes RPORT 72 with RBUF 71 similar to RPORT 69 and RBUF 69A and a TBUF and TPORT similar to TBUF 70A and TPORT 70. Protocol module 73 interfaces with SERDES to handle protocol based functionality.
Receive Segment of GL Port:
Frames enter through link 301 and SERDES 302 converts data into 10-bit parallel data to fibre channel characters, which are then sent to receive pipe (“Rpipe” may be referenced as “Rpipe1” or “Rpipe2”) 303A via a de-multiplexer (DEMUX) 303. Rpipe 303A includes, parity module 305 and decoder 304. Decoder 304 decodes 10B data to 8B and parity module 305 adds a parity bit. Rpipe 303A also performs various Fibre Channel standard functions such as detecting a start of frame (SOF), end-of frame (EOF), Idles, R_RDYs (fibre channel standard primitive) and the like, which are not described since they are standard functions.
Rpipe 303A connects to smoothing FIFO (SMF) module 306 that performs smoothing functions to accommodate clock frequency variations between remote transmitting and local receiving devices.
Frames received by RPORT 310 are stored in receive buffer (RBUF) 69A, (except for certain Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (AL) frames). Path 309 shows the frame entry path, and all frames entering path 309 are written to RBUF 69A as opposed to the AL path 308.
Cyclic redundancy code (CRC) module 313 further processes frames that enter GL port 300 by checking CRC and processing errors according to FC_PH rules. The frames are subsequently passed to RBUF 69A where they are steered to an appropriate output link. RBUF 69A is a link receive buffer and can hold multiple frames.
Reading from and writing to RBUF 69A are controlled by RBUF read control logic (“RRD”) 319 and RBUF write control logic (“RWT”) 307, respectively. RWT 307 specifies which empty RBUF 69A slot will be written into when a frame arrives through the data link via multiplexer (“Mux”) 313B, CRC generate module 313A and EF (external proprietary format) module 314. EF module 314 encodes proprietary (i.e. non-standard) format frames to standard Fibre Channel 8B codes. Mux 313B receives input from Rx Spoof module 314A, which encodes frames to an proprietary format (if enabled). RWT 307 controls RBUF 69A write addresses and provides the slot number to tag writer (“TWT”) 317.
RRD 319 processes frame transfer requests from RBUF 69A. Frames may be read out in any order and multiple destinations may get copies of the frames.
Steering state machine (SSM) 316 receives frames and determines the destination for forwarding the frame. SSM 316 produces a destination mask, where there is one bit for each destination. Any bit set to a certain value, for example, 1, specifies a legal destination, and there can be multiple bits set, if there are multiple destinations for the same frame (multicast or broadcast).
SSM 316 makes this determination using information from alias cache 315, steering registers 316A, control register 326 values and frame contents. IOP 66 writes all tables so that correct exit path is selected for the intended destination port addresses.
The destination mask from SSM 316 is sent to TWT 317 and a RBUF tag register (RTAG) 318. TWT 317 writes tags to all destinations specified in the destination mask from SSM 316. Each tag identifies its corresponding frame by containing an RBUF 69A slot number where the frame resides, and an indication that the tag is valid.
Each slot in RBUF 69A has an associated set of tags, which are used to control the availability of the slot. The primary tags are a copy of the destination mask generated by SSM 316. As each destination receives a copy of the frame, the destination mask in RTAG 318 is cleared. When all the mask bits are cleared, it indicates that all destinations have received a copy of the frame and that the corresponding frame slot in RBUF 69A is empty and available for a new frame.
RTAG 318 also has frame content information that is passed to a requesting destination to pre-condition the destination for the frame transfer. These tags are transferred to the destination via a read multiplexer (RMUX) (not shown).
Transmit Segment of GL Port:
Transmit segment (“TPORT”) 312 performs various transmit functions. Transmit tag register (TTAG) 330 provides a list of all frames that are to be transmitted. Tag Writer 317 or common segment 311 write TTAG 330 information. The frames are provided to arbitration module (“transmit arbiter” (“TARB”)) 331, which is then free to choose which source to process and which frame from that source to be processed next.
TTAG 330 includes a collection of buffers (for example, buffers based on a first-in first out (“FIFO”) scheme) for each frame source. TTAG 330 writes a tag for a source and TARB 331 then reads the tag. For any given source, there are as many entries in TTAG 330 as there are credits in RBUF 69A.
TARB 331 is activated anytime there are one or more valid frame tags in TTAG 330. TARB 331 preconditions its controls for a frame and then waits for the frame to be written into TBUF 70A. After the transfer is complete, TARB 331 may request another frame from the same source or choose to service another source.
TBUF 70A is the path to the link transmitter. Typically, frames don't land in TBUF 70A in their entirety. Mostly, frames simply pass through TBUF 70A to reach output pins, if there is a clear path.
Switch Mux 332 is also provided to receive output from crossbar 50. Switch Mux 332 receives input from plural RBUFs (shown as RBUF 00 to RBUF 19), and input from CPORT 62A shown as CBUF 1 frame/status. TARB 331 determines the frame source that is selected and the selected source provides the appropriate slot number. The output from Switch Mux 332 is sent to ALUT 323 for S_ID spoofing and the result is fed into TBUF Tags 333.
TMUX (“TxMUX”) 339 chooses which data path to connect to the transmitter. The sources are: primitive sequences specified by IOP 66 via control registers 326 (shown as primitive 339A), and signals as specified by Transmit state machine (“TSM”) 346, frames following the loop path, or steered frames exiting the fabric via TBUF 70A.
TSM 346 chooses the data to be sent to the link transmitter, and enforces all fibre Channel rules for transmission. TSM 346 receives requests to transmit from loop state machine 320, TBUF 70A (shown as TARB request 346A) and from various other IOP 66 functions via control registers 326 (shown as IBUF Request 345A). TSM 346 also handles all credit management functions, so that Fibre Channel connectionless frames are transmitted only when there is link credit to do so.
Loop state machine (“LPSM”) 320 controls transmit and receive functions when GL_Port is in a loop mode. LPSM 320 operates to support loop functions as specified by FC-AL-2.
IOP buffer (“IBUF”) 345 provides IOP 66 the means for transmitting frames for special purposes.
Frame multiplexer (“Frame Mux” or “Mux”) 336 chooses the frame source, while logic (TX spoof 334) converts D_ID and S_ID from public to private addresses. Frame Mux 336 receives input from Tx Spoof module 334, TBUF tags 333, and Mux 335 to select a frame source for transmission.
EF module 338 encodes proprietary (i.e. non-standard) format frames to standard Fibre Channel 8B codes and CRC module 337 generates CRC data for the outgoing frames.
Modules 340-343 put a selected transmission source into proper format for transmission on an output link 344. Parity 340 checks for parity errors, when frames are encoded from 8B to 10B by encoder 341, marking frames “invalid”, according to Fibre Channel rules, if there was a parity error. Phase FIFO 342A receives frames from encode module 341 and the frame is selected by Mux 342 and passed to SERDES 343. SERDES 343 converts parallel transmission data to serial before passing the data to the link media. SERDES 343 may be internal or external to ASIC 20.
Common Segment of GL Port:
As discussed above, ASIC 20 include common segment 311 comprising of various modules. LPSM 320 has been described above and controls the general behavior of TPORT 312 and RPORT 310.
A loop look up table (“LLUT”) 322 and an address look up table (“ALUT”) 323 is used for private loop proxy addressing and hard zoning managed by firmware.
Common segment 311 also includes control register 326 that controls bits associated with a GL_Port, status register 324 that contains status bits that can be used to trigger interrupts, and interrupt mask register 325 that contains masks to determine the status bits that will generate an interrupt to IOP 66. Common segment 311 also includes AL control and status register 328 and statistics register 327 that provide accounting information for FC management information base (“MIB”).
Output from status register 324 may be used to generate a Fp Peek function. This allows a status register 324 bit to be viewed and sent to the CPORT.
Output from control register 326, statistics register 327 and register 328 (as well as 328A for an X_Port, shown in
Output from Interrupt register 325 and status register 324 is sent to logic 335 to generate a port interrupt signal (FP Port Interrupt).
BIST module 321 is used for conducting embedded memory testing.
RPORT 310A can receive frames from links (or lanes) 301A-301D and transmit frames to lanes 344A-344D. Each link has a SERDES (302A-302D), a de-skew module, a decode module (303B-303E) and parity module (304A-304D). Each lane also has a smoothing FIFO (TxSMF) module 305A-305D that performs smoothing functions to accommodate clock frequency variations. Parity errors are checked by module 403, while CRC errors are checked by module 404.
RPORT 310A uses a virtual lane (“VL”) cache 402 that stores plural vector values that are used for virtual lane assignment. In one aspect of the present. invention, VL Cache 402 may have 32 entries and two vectors per entry. IOP 66 is able to read or write VL cache 402 entries during frame traffic. State machine 401 controls credit that is received. On the transmit side, credit state machine 347 controls frame transmission based on credit availability. State machine 347 interfaces with credit counters 328A.
Also on the transmit side, modules 340-343 are used for each lane 344A-344D, i.e., each lane can have its own module 340-343. Parity module 340 checks for parity errors and encode module 341 encodes 8-bit data to 10 bit data. Mux 342B sends the 10-bit data to a SMF module 342 that handles clock variation on the transmit side. SERDES 343 then sends the data out to the link.
VL cache 402:
VL_Select bit 514A from control register 326 is used to control the selection of a virtual lane for incoming frames. This allows selection of virtual lanes using various parameters as highlighted by the example below.
If the Virtual Lane Cache 402 Hit=1, then use a bit(s) value supplied by Virtual Lane Cache 402. A virtual Lane identifier can also be selected by identifying the selection within specially coded areas of a frame. For example, when last word byte 3 bit 3=0, then:
When last word byte 3 bit 3=1, then: Last word byte 3 bits selects VL_ID.
It is noteworthy that the foregoing bit assignment is intended to provide an example of how virtual lanes may be assigned using the adaptive aspects of the present invention. The foregoing bit assignment is not intended to limit the present invention.
VL cache 402 includes a control word register 517, which is an IOP 66 Read Write (r/w) register whose bits determine an associated entry's mode of operation. For example, the “V” bit indicates a valid entry, “BE” indicates “byte enabled” for byte to byte comparison, “P” indicates the preference bit of a frame that allows a frame to jump to the head of the queue of incoming frames for processing, and VL_ID indicates the virtual lane identification. It is noteworthy the fields in register 517 although shown with certain bit values (for example, the BE bit is 4 bits and VL_ID bit is 3 bits), this is not to limit the invention to any particular bit value and is merely to provide an example. This is also true for other figures illustrating the various aspects of the present invention.
VL cache 402 also includes a port pair register 518 that stores certain bit values for D_ID and S_ID comparison. When D_ID 519 and S_ID 520 enter VL cache 402, the valid entries are compared to port pair word 518 entries. The comparison is performed by logic 522A, 522, 523, 524, 525, 526, 527, 528 and 521. Logic 521 generates the result of the comparison 521A, which is sent to encoder 508, and logic 511. Logic 511 provides a VL hit signal (or command) 510 to MUX 509 that indicates that the virtual lane assignment is to be based on VL cache 402 values. Mux 509 generates signal 509A for virtual lane assignment.
Control register 326 includes various select values, for example, VL_Select and a default value. These can be selected by the firmware for virtual lane assignment. These values (for example, S_ID 514 (similar to 520), OX_ID 515, D_ID 513 (similar to 519) and a default virtual lane (VL_DEFAULT) 516) are sent to MUX 512. Based on control register 326 values, frame fields and VL select 514A, Mux 512 generates a bit value 512A that is sent to Mux 509 for assigning VLs.
Mux 503 is used to generate a preference frame tag 504 based on the “P” field in register 517. Signal VL_P 507 designates the preference for a virtual lane frame. Signal 507 is generated using gate 506 and is based on frame data 504 and VL_Hit 505 (similar to signal 510) signal. Mux 503 also sends an output 503A to Mux 509 and receives an input 508A from encoder 508. Firmware can set field P for such preferential virtual lane assignment. It is noteworthy that the preference frame assignment can also be used without VL operation.
The following table shows an example of VL cache 402 entries. VL_ID may be encoded into a bit field:
Virtual lane port pairs (“VLPP”) provide 32-port pair addresses for the compare mask.
The foregoing (including bit values/“32 Port”) are intended to illustrate the various aspects of the present invention and not to limit the invention.
Turning in detail to
In step S602, the process matches the incoming frame's D_ID (519) and S_ID (520) in VL cache 402. If there is no match, then in step S603, a selected value is used to identify the frame's virtual lane. In one aspect, the frame's D_ID, S_ID, OX_ID, the frames VSAN_ID (virtual storage area numbe) or a VL default value from control register 326 may be used to assign a virtual lane for an incoming frame. Thereafter, the process ends in step S604.
If a valid match occurs in step S602, then in step S605, the VL_ID is provided by VL cache 402.
If VL_ID is to be assigned by VL Cache 402 values, then in step S606, the process determines if a particular frame is to be given preference over other frames. This is based on the value of “P” bit set in control word register 517. If VL preference bit is set, then in step S607, the process generates VL_P 507 that designates a particular frame to be a Virtual lane Preference frame.
In step S608, a VL_ID with preference is written to RTAG 318.
If the VL preference bit is not set, as determined in step S606, then in step S609, a VL_ID without preference is written to RTAG 318 and the process ends in step S610.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, virtual lanes may be assigned based on fabric topology. This is important because bandwidth of various links may vary and may depend on fabric topology.
Turning in detail to
If the fabric topology is known, then in step S703, the fabric topology is identified.
In step S704, the process assigns virtual lanes based on the fabric topology. In one aspect, register 326 or VL cache 402 values may be used by firmware to assign virtual lanes based on the identified topology.
In one aspect of the present invention, virtual lanes may be compressed, which will allow a link that supports N virtual lanes to communicate with another link that may support M virtual lanes. In this case, N is not equal to M and in one aspect of the present invention, N may be equal to 4 lanes and M may be equal to 8. A VL_Compress bit may also be stored in register 326 that controls VL compression. VL_Compress is used by TPORT 312A to determine which VC_RDY (a fibre channel standard defined primitive) to send, once notified by RBUF 69A that a frame has been disposed.
In step S801, the process determines if a frame has been sent to all destination(s). It is noteworthy that unicast frames have a single destination while multicast frames have multiple destinations. If the frame has been sent to all destinations, then in step S803, the process determines if virtual lanes are enabled. If virtual lines are not enabled, then in step S805, a R_RDY is spawned and the process sends.
If virtual lanes are enabled then in step S804, the process determines if VL compression is enabled. If VL compression is enabled, then VL_ID(M) is mapped to VC_RDY(N)in step S810 and a VC_RDY(N) is spawned in step S812.
If VL compression is not enabled in step S804, then VL_ID(M) is mapped to VC_RDY(M) in step S811, without compression and VC_RDY(M) is spawned in step S812, and the process ends.
If in step S801, the frame has not been sent to all destinations, then in step S802, the process determines if there is a request for the frame and status. If there is no request in step S802, then the process goes back to step S800.
If there is a request for frame and status in step S802, the process determines in step S806 if VL compression is enabled. If VL compression is enabled, then in step S808, VL_ID(M) is mapped to adjust virtual lane credit management mechanism (N). If VL compression is not enabled, then in step S807, VL_ID(M) is mapped to adjust virtual lane credit management mechanism(M).
Thereafter, in step s809, status is sent to TARB 335 and the frame is sent to TBUF 70A
An example for Step S811: VL_Compress=0, which means VL compression is not enabled:
VL # from RBUF
Spawned VC RDY
An example for step S810: If VL_Compress=1, which means VL compression is enabled, then:
VL # from RBUF
Spawned VC RDY
In one aspect of the present invention, the use of VL-Compress allows switch 207 supporting 4 virtual lanes to communicate with switch 209 that supports 8 virtual lanes. Switch 209 does not have to downgrade it's capabilities because frames moving from switch 207 to 209 use 4 virtual lanes, while frames moving from switch 209 to switch 207 use 8 virtual lanes.
The foregoing is an example to illustrate virtual lane assignment where lanes are compressed and non-compressed situations. The invention is not limited to the foregoing specific allocation of lanes or number of lanes.
In one aspect of the present invention, virtual lane assignment can be programmed based on firmware or fabric topology, making the system and process versatile and flexible.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, virtual lane statistics are collected for each lane. Various counters can be used in statistics module 327 to gather information. For example, a counter (“CL2 Frames In Count” (“C2FI”)) increments every time a SOFi2 or SOFn2 frame is received into the fabric. A rollover event is spawned when the counter increments after reaching its maximum value.
Another counter (CL2 Frames Out Count (“C2FO”)) increments every time a SOFi2 or SOFn2 frame leaves the fabric. A rollover event is spawned when the counter increments after reaching its maximum value.
Another counter (CL2 Words In Count (“C2WI”)) can be used to count every time a frame word of an SOFi2 or SOFn2 frame is received into the fabric. A rollover event is spawned when the counter increments after reaching its maximum value.
Another counter (CL2Words out Count (“C2WO”)) increments every time a SOFi2 or SOFn2 frame word is transmitted from the fabric. A rollover event is spawned when the counter increments after reaching its maximum value.
Another counter (CL3 Frames In Count (“C3FI”)) increments every time a SOFi3 or SOFn3 frame is received into the fabric. A rollover event is spawned when the counter increments after reaching its maximum value.
Another counter (CL3 Frames Out Count(“C3FO”)) increments every time a SOFi3 or SOFn3 frame is transmitted from the fabric. A rollover event is spawned when the counter increments after reaching its maximum value.
Another counter (CL3 Words In Count (“C3WI”)) increments every time a frame word of an SOFi3 or SOFn3 frame is received into the fabric. A rollover event is spawned when the counter increments after reaching its maximum value.
Another counter (CL3 Word Out Count(“C3WO”)) increments every time a SOFi3 or SOFn3 frame word is transmitted from the fabric. A rollover event is spawned when the counter increments after reaching its maximum value.
Another counter (ISL Frames In Count (“IFI”)) increments when a SOFi2, SOFn2, SOFi3 or SOFn3 frame is received into the fabric that uses steering register 316A domain routing. A rollover event is spawned when the counter increments after reaching its maximum value.
Yet another counter (Invalid Transmission Word Count (“DEC”))increments every time an “Invalid Transmission Word (ITW)” is detected at RPORT 310A. This error can occur on a word basis. A rollover event is spawned when the counter increments after reaching its maximum value.
Another counter (CRC Error Count (“CEC”)) increments every time a CRC error is detected on an incoming frame. A rollover event is spawned when the counter increments after reaching its maximum value.
Another counter (Transmit Wait Count(“TWAITC”) increments every time TARB 335 selects a word to transmit but is not able to send the word, especially due to lack of virtual lane credit. A rollover event is spawned when the counter increments after reaching its maximum value.
Another counter (Class 3 Toss Count (“C3TC”) increments each time a SOFi3 or SOFn3 frame is tossed from TBUF 70A, except for hard zoning violations. A separate counter (Hard Zoning Violation Count (“HZVC”) may be used for counting the number of attempts a frame makes to violate a hard zone at TBUF 70A. A rollover event is spawned when the counter increments after reaching its maximum value.
Yet another counter (Hard Zoning Toss Count (“HZTC”)) may be used to count each time a SOFi3 or SOFn3 frame is tossed from TBUF for hard zoning violations resulting from ALUT 323 miss or multiple hits. A rollover event is spawned when the counter increments after reaching its maximum value.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, plural bit counters (Virtual Lane Credit Count)is used monitor virtual lane credit. The counter may be located among credit counters 328. The counters decrement each time a select R_RDY or VC_RDY is received and increments each time a frame is transmitted on a virtual lane. The following are some of the bits that may be used to monitor credits:
“TBUF_Frame_Departure: This bit sets each time a frame departs for a given virtual lane.
“HZ_Toss_Frame_Rollover” This denotes that a hard zoning toss count counter for a given virtual lane has overflowed and has gone back to zero.
“CL3_Toss_Frames_Rollover”: This denotes that CL3TC counter for a given virtual lane has overflowed.
“CL2_Frames_Out Rollover”: This denotes that the C2FO counter for a given virtual lane has overflowed.
“CL2_Words_Out_Rollover”: This denotes that the C2WO counter for a given virtual lane has overflowed.
“CL3_Frames_Out_Rollover”: This denotes that the C3FO counter for a given virtual lane has overflowed.
“CL3_Words_Out_Rollover”: This denotes that the C3WO counter for a given virtual lane has overflowed.
“TwaitC0_Thres” Denotes that TWAITCO threshold for a given virtual lane has overflowed.
“Wait_Count0_Rollover”: This denotes that the TWAITCO counter for a given virtual lane has overflowed.
“CL3_Toss_Error”: This sets when a class fibre channel 3 frame is tossed out of TBUF 70A. This can occur because the frame timed out in RBUFF 69A or CBUF 62D, port is offline or logged out or TTAG 330 is in a flush state.
“CL2_Toss_Error”; This sets when a class 2 frame is tossed out of TBUF 70A.
The foregoing parameters as collected by modules 327 and 328 can be used by firmware for diagnostic purposes as well as for improving bandwidth.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, these embodiments are illustrative only and not limiting. Many other applications and embodiments of the present invention will be apparent in light of this disclosure and the following claims.
|Patente citada||Fecha de presentación||Fecha de publicación||Solicitante||Título|
|US4081612||14 Jul 1976||28 Mar 1978||Hasler Ag||Method for building-up of routing addresses in a digital telecommunication network|
|US4162375||19 Ene 1978||24 Jul 1979||Siemens Aktiengesellschaft||Time-divison multiplex switching network with spatial switching stages|
|US4200929||23 Ene 1978||29 Abr 1980||Davidjuk Alexandr D||Input device for delivery of data from digital transmitters|
|US4258418||28 Dic 1978||24 Mar 1981||International Business Machines Corporation||Variable capacity data buffer system|
|US4344132||14 Dic 1979||10 Ago 1982||International Business Machines Corporation||Serial storage interface apparatus for coupling a serial storage mechanism to a data processor input/output bus|
|US4382159||29 May 1981||3 May 1983||Bowditch Robert S||Blow actuated microphone|
|US4425640||20 Abr 1981||10 Ene 1984||The Plessey Company Plc||Telecommunications switching network using digital switching modules|
|US4546468||13 Sep 1982||8 Oct 1985||At&T Bell Laboratories||Switching network control circuit|
|US4569043||3 Sep 1985||4 Feb 1986||Gte Automatic Electric Inc.||Arrangement for interfacing the space stage to the time stages of a T-S-T digital switching system|
|US4691296||16 Nov 1984||1 Sep 1987||Allen-Bradley Company, Inc.||Method and apparatus for exchanging multiple data bytes with an I/O module in a single scan.|
|US4716561||26 Ago 1985||29 Dic 1987||American Telephone And Telegraph Company, At&T Bell Laboratories||Digital transmission including add/drop module|
|US4725835||13 Sep 1985||16 Feb 1988||T-Bar Incorporated||Time multiplexed bus matrix switching system|
|US4821034||6 Feb 1987||11 Abr 1989||Ancor Communications, Inc.||Digital exchange switch element and network|
|US4860193||22 May 1986||22 Ago 1989||International Business Machines Corporation||System for efficiently transferring data between a high speed channel and a low speed I/O device|
|US4980857||7 Jun 1989||25 Dic 1990||Allied-Signal Inc.||Operations controller for a fault tolerant multiple node processing system|
|US5025370||2 Sep 1986||18 Jun 1991||Koegel Robert J||Circuit for preventing lock-out of high priority requests to a system controller|
|US5051742||8 Mar 1990||24 Sep 1991||Robert M. Newman||Queueing protocol|
|US5090011||21 Dic 1989||18 Feb 1992||Hitachi, Ltd.||Packet congestion control method and packet switching equipment|
|US5115430||24 Sep 1990||19 May 1992||At&T Bell Laboratories||Fair access of multi-priority traffic to distributed-queue dual-bus networks|
|US5144622||5 Oct 1990||1 Sep 1992||Hitachi, Ltd.||Network system|
|US5258751||4 Nov 1991||2 Nov 1993||Motorola, Inc.||Method of presenting messages for a selective call receiver|
|US5260933||15 May 1992||9 Nov 1993||International Business Machines Corporation||Acknowledgement protocol for serial data network with out-of-order delivery|
|US5260935||1 Mar 1991||9 Nov 1993||Washington University||Data packet resequencer for a high speed data switch|
|US5339311||19 Ene 1993||16 Ago 1994||Washington University||Data packet resequencer for a high speed data switch|
|US5367520||25 Nov 1992||22 Nov 1994||Bell Communcations Research, Inc.||Method and system for routing cells in an ATM switch|
|US5390173||22 Oct 1992||14 Feb 1995||Digital Equipment Corporation||Packet format in hub for packet data communications system|
|US5425022||6 Dic 1993||13 Jun 1995||British Telecommunications Public Limited Company||Data switching nodes|
|US5537400||15 Abr 1994||16 Jul 1996||Dsc Communications Corporation||Buffered crosspoint matrix for an asynchronous transfer mode switch and method of operation|
|US5568165||22 Oct 1993||22 Oct 1996||Auravision Corporation||Video processing technique using multi-buffer video memory|
|US5568167||23 Sep 1994||22 Oct 1996||C-Cube Microsystems, Inc.||System for providing antialiased video overlays|
|US5579443||3 Mar 1995||26 Nov 1996||Nippondenso Co., Ltd.||Emergency vehicular communication device capable of contacting a plurality of services|
|US5590125||5 Jun 1995||31 Dic 1996||The Trustees Of Columbia University In The City Of New York||Method and apparatus for supporting mobile communications in asynchronous transfer mode based networks|
|US5594672||20 May 1994||14 Ene 1997||Micro Energetics Corporation||Peripheral power saver|
|US5598541||24 Oct 1994||28 Ene 1997||Lsi Logic Corporation||Node loop port communication interface super core for fibre channel|
|US5610745||26 Oct 1995||11 Mar 1997||Hewlett-Packard Co.||Method and apparatus for tracking buffer availability|
|US5623492||24 Mar 1995||22 Abr 1997||U S West Technologies, Inc.||Methods and systems for managing bandwidth resources in a fast packet switching network|
|US5666483||22 Sep 1995||9 Sep 1997||Honeywell Inc.||Redundant processing system architecture|
|US5677909||11 May 1994||14 Oct 1997||Spectrix Corporation||Apparatus for exchanging data between a central station and a plurality of wireless remote stations on a time divided commnication channel|
|US5687172||30 Dic 1994||11 Nov 1997||Lucent Technologies Inc.||Terabit per second distribution network|
|US5701416||13 Abr 1995||23 Dic 1997||Cray Research, Inc.||Adaptive routing mechanism for torus interconnection network|
|US5706279||18 Feb 1997||6 Ene 1998||U S West Technologies, Inc.||Methods and systems for managing packet flow into a fast packet switching network|
|US5732206||23 Jul 1996||24 Mar 1998||International Business Machines Corporation||Method, apparatus and program product for disruptive recovery in a data processing system|
|US5748612||10 Ago 1995||5 May 1998||Mcdata Corporation||Method and apparatus for implementing virtual circuits in a fibre channel system|
|US5764927||29 Sep 1995||9 Jun 1998||Allen Bradley Company, Inc.||Backplane data transfer technique for industrial automation controllers|
|US5768271||12 Abr 1996||16 Jun 1998||Alcatel Data Networks Inc.||Virtual private network|
|US5768533||1 Sep 1995||16 Jun 1998||National Semiconductor Corporation||Video coding using segmented frames and retransmission to overcome channel errors|
|US5784358||8 Mar 1995||21 Jul 1998||Oxford Brookes University||Broadband switching network with automatic bandwidth allocation in response to data cell detection|
|US5790545||14 Mar 1996||4 Ago 1998||Motorola Inc.||Efficient output-request packet switch and method|
|US5790840||15 Ago 1997||4 Ago 1998||International Business Machines Corporation||Timestamp systems, methods and computer program products for data processing system|
|US5812525||10 Abr 1997||22 Sep 1998||U S West Technologies, Inc.||Methods and systems for managing bandwidth resources in a fast packet switching network|
|US5818842||20 Ene 1995||6 Oct 1998||Newbridge Networks Corporation||Transparent interconnector of LANs by an ATM network|
|US5821875||26 Dic 1995||13 Oct 1998||Electronics And Telecommunications Research Institute||Data switching device|
|US5822300||2 Abr 1996||13 Oct 1998||Compaq Computer Corporation||Congestion management scheme|
|US5825748||8 Abr 1997||20 Oct 1998||International Business Machines Corporation||Credit-based flow control checking and correction system|
|US5828475||29 Ene 1997||27 Oct 1998||Mcdata Corporation||Bypass switching and messaging mechanism for providing intermix data transfer for a fiber optic switch using a bypass bus and buffer|
|US5835752||18 Oct 1996||10 Nov 1998||Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.||PCI interface synchronization|
|US5850386||1 Nov 1996||15 Dic 1998||Wandel & Goltermann Technologies, Inc.||Protocol analyzer for monitoring digital transmission networks|
|US5892604||7 May 1997||6 Abr 1999||Nippon Telegraph And Telephone Corporation||ATM switch|
|US5894560||26 Ago 1996||13 Abr 1999||Lsi Logic Corporation||Method and apparatus for controlling I/O channels responsive to an availability of a plurality of I/O devices to transfer data|
|US5925119||28 Mar 1997||20 Jul 1999||Quantum Corporation||Computer architecture for automated storage library|
|US5936442||1 May 1998||10 Ago 1999||Kye Systems Corp.||Power shut-off and recovery circuit for data communication devices|
|US5954796||11 Feb 1997||21 Sep 1999||Compaq Computer Corporation||System and method for automatically and dynamically changing an address associated with a device disposed in a fire channel environment|
|US5974547||20 Mar 1998||26 Oct 1999||3Com Corporation||Technique for reliable network booting of an operating system to a client computer|
|US5978359||18 Jul 1996||2 Nov 1999||Fujitsu Network Communications, Inc.||Allocated and dynamic switch flow control|
|US5978379||23 Ene 1997||2 Nov 1999||Gadzoox Networks, Inc.||Fiber channel learning bridge, learning half bridge, and protocol|
|US5987028||12 May 1997||16 Nov 1999||Industrial Technology Research Insitute||Multiple channel ATM switch|
|US5999528||28 Abr 1995||7 Dic 1999||Newbridge Networks Corporation||Communications system for receiving and transmitting data cells|
|US6009226||1 May 1997||28 Dic 1999||Victor Company Of Japan, Ltd.||Recording and reproducing apparatus for packet data|
|US6011779||30 Dic 1996||4 Ene 2000||Hyundai Electronics America||ATM switch queuing system|
|US6014383||10 Feb 1997||11 Ene 2000||Compaq Computer Corporation||System and method for controlling multiple initiators in a fibre channel environment|
|US6021128||10 Mar 1997||1 Feb 2000||Hitachi, Ltd.||Asynchronous transfer mode switching system|
|US6026092||31 Dic 1996||15 Feb 2000||Northern Telecom Limited||High performance fault tolerant switching system for multimedia satellite and terrestrial communications networks|
|US6031842||26 Nov 1997||29 Feb 2000||Mcdata Corporation||Low latency shared memory switch architecture|
|US6046979||4 May 1998||4 Abr 2000||Cabletron Systems, Inc.||Method and apparatus for controlling the flow of variable-length packets through a multiport switch|
|US6047323||27 Jun 1996||4 Abr 2000||Hewlett-Packard Company||Creation and migration of distributed streams in clusters of networked computers|
|US6055618||31 Oct 1995||25 Abr 2000||Cray Research, Inc.||Virtual maintenance network in multiprocessing system having a non-flow controlled virtual maintenance channel|
|US6061360||24 Feb 1999||9 May 2000||Seagate Technology, Inc.||Method and apparatus for preserving loop fairness with dynamic half-duplex|
|US6081512||30 Jun 1997||27 Jun 2000||Sun Microsystems, Inc.||Spanning tree support in a high performance network device|
|US6108738||10 Jun 1997||22 Ago 2000||Vlsi Technology, Inc.||Multi-master PCI bus system within a single integrated circuit|
|US6108778||7 Abr 1998||22 Ago 2000||Micron Technology, Inc.||Device for blocking bus transactions during reset|
|US6118776||7 Ago 1997||12 Sep 2000||Vixel Corporation||Methods and apparatus for fiber channel interconnection of private loop devices|
|US6128292||4 Dic 1997||3 Oct 2000||Electronics And Telecommunications Research Institute||Packet switching apparatus with multi-channel and multi-cast switching functions and packet switching system using the same|
|US6134127||18 May 1994||17 Oct 2000||Hamilton Sunstrand Corporation||PWM harmonic control|
|US6144668||26 Nov 1997||7 Nov 2000||International Business Machines Corporation||Simultaneous cut through and store-and-forward frame support in a network device|
|US6147976||24 Jun 1996||14 Nov 2000||Cabletron Systems, Inc.||Fast network layer packet filter|
|US6151644||17 Abr 1998||21 Nov 2000||I-Cube, Inc.||Dynamically configurable buffer for a computer network|
|US6158014||2 Dic 1998||5 Dic 2000||Emulex Corporation||Automatic detection of 8B/10B data rates|
|US6160813||21 Mar 1997||12 Dic 2000||Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.||Fibre channel switching system and method|
|US6185203||18 Feb 1997||6 Feb 2001||Vixel Corporation||Fibre channel switching fabric|
|US6201787||15 Sep 1999||13 Mar 2001||Emulex Corporation||Automatic loop segment failure isolation|
|US6209089||12 Ago 1998||27 Mar 2001||Microsoft Corporation||Correcting for changed client machine hardware using a server-based operating system|
|US6229822||13 Sep 1999||8 May 2001||Newbridge Networks Corporation||Communications system for receiving and transmitting data cells|
|US6230276||1 Feb 1999||8 May 2001||Douglas T Hayden||Energy conserving measurement system under software control and method for battery powered products|
|US6240096||12 Ene 2000||29 May 2001||Mcdata Corporation||Fibre channel switch employing distributed queuing|
|US6252891||9 Abr 1998||26 Jun 2001||Spirent Communications, Inc.||System and method to insert timestamp information in a protocol neutral manner|
|US6253267||31 Jul 1998||26 Jun 2001||Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.||Hot-plug of PCI bus using single chip|
|US6278708||10 Abr 1998||21 Ago 2001||Cisco Technology, Inc.||Frame relay access device with user-configurable virtual circuit bundling|
|US6286011||30 Abr 1997||4 Sep 2001||Bellsouth Corporation||System and method for recording transactions using a chronological list superimposed on an indexed list|
|US6289002||15 Sep 1999||11 Sep 2001||Emulex Corporation||Automatic isolation in loops|
|US6480500 *||18 Jun 2001||12 Nov 2002||Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.||Arrangement for creating multiple virtual queue pairs from a compressed queue pair based on shared attributes|
|US6697914 *||11 Sep 2000||24 Feb 2004||Western Digital Ventures, Inc.||Switched node comprising a disk controller with integrated multi-port switching circuitry|
|US6744772 *||30 Nov 2000||1 Jun 2004||Western Digital Ventures, Inc.||Converting asynchronous packets into isochronous packets for transmission through a multi-dimensional switched fabric network|
|US6888831 *||28 Sep 2000||3 May 2005||Western Digital Ventures, Inc.||Distributed resource reservation system for establishing a path through a multi-dimensional computer network to support isochronous data|
|US6904507 *||30 Sep 2002||7 Jun 2005||Agilent Technologies, Inc.||Buffer management architecture and method for an infiniband subnetwork|
|US6922408 *||10 Ene 2001||26 Jul 2005||Mellanox Technologies Ltd.||Packet communication buffering with dynamic flow control|
|US6928470 *||31 Jul 2000||9 Ago 2005||Western Digital Ventures, Inc.||Transferring scheduling data from a plurality of disk storage devices to a network switch before transferring data associated with scheduled requests between the network switch and a plurality of host initiators|
|US7010607 *||14 Sep 2000||7 Mar 2006||Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.||Method for training a communication link between ports to correct for errors|
|US7076569 *||18 Oct 2002||11 Jul 2006||Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.||Embedded channel adapter having transport layer configured for prioritizing selection of work descriptors based on respective virtual lane priorities|
|US7150021 *||12 Oct 2001||12 Dic 2006||Palau Acquisition Corporation (Delaware)||Method and system to allocate resources within an interconnect device according to a resource allocation table|
|US7187688 *||28 Jun 2002||6 Mar 2007||International Business Machines Corporation||Priority arbitration mechanism|
|US7209478 *||31 May 2002||24 Abr 2007||Palau Acquisition Corporation (Delaware)||Apparatus and methods for dynamic reallocation of virtual lane buffer space in an infiniband switch|
|US7233570 *||19 Jul 2002||19 Jun 2007||International Business Machines Corporation||Long distance repeater for digital information|
|US7245627 *||23 Abr 2002||17 Jul 2007||Mellanox Technologies Ltd.||Sharing a network interface card among multiple hosts|
|US7346707 *||16 Ene 2002||18 Mar 2008||Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.||Arrangement in an infiniband channel adapter for sharing memory space for work queue entries using multiply-linked lists|
|US20030033487 *||9 Ago 2001||13 Feb 2003||International Business Machines Corporation||Method and apparatus for managing data in a distributed buffer system|
|US20030200315 *||23 Abr 2002||23 Oct 2003||Mellanox Technologies Ltd.||Sharing a network interface card among multiple hosts|
|US20040064664 *||30 Sep 2002||1 Abr 2004||Gil Mercedes E.||Buffer management architecture and method for an infiniband subnetwork|
|US20040202189 *||10 Abr 2003||14 Oct 2004||International Business Machines Corporation||Apparatus, system and method for providing multiple logical channel adapters within a single physical channel adapter in a systen area network|
|1||"Deliver Server-Free Backup", Pathlight & Computer Associates, White Paper of Apr. 2000, Ithaca, New York, XP-002381153,1-8.|
|2||"Examination Report from the European Patent Office dated Oct. 12, 2007 for European Application No. 05 805 632.6".|
|3||"Final Office Action from USPTO dated Apr. 1, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/956,717".|
|4||"Final Office Action from USPTO dated Apr. 23, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/889,255".|
|5||"Final Office Action from USPTO dated Apr. 25, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,579".|
|6||"Final Office Action from USPTO dated Apr. 29, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,491".|
|7||"Final Office Action from USPTO dated Dec. 24, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,726".|
|8||"Final Office Action from USPTO dated Jun. 10, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,586".|
|9||"Final Office Action from USPTO dated Jun. 4, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,978".|
|10||"Final Office Action from USPTO dated Jun. 5, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/889,267".|
|11||"Final Office Action from USPTO dated May 12, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,492".|
|12||"Final Office Action from USPTO dated May 21, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/889,635".|
|13||"Final Office Action from USPTO dated Nov. 13, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,587".|
|14||"Notice of Allowance from USPTO dated Apr. 10, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/241,153".|
|15||"Notice of Allowance from USPTO dated Apr. 18, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,597".|
|16||"Notice of Allowance from USPTO dated Apr. 4, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 11/608,634".|
|17||"Notice of Allowance from USPTO dated Dec. 20, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/889,337".|
|18||"Notice of Allowance from USPTO dated Dec. 21, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/961,463".|
|19||"Notice of Allowance from USPTO dated Feb. 8, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,529".|
|20||"Notice of Allowance from USPTO dated Jan. 10, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/263,858".|
|21||"Notice of Allowance from USPTO dated Jan. 11, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/664,548".|
|22||"Notice of Allowance from USPTO dated Jan. 8, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/889,551".|
|23||"Notice of Allowance from USPTO dated Jun. 25, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,491".|
|24||"Notice of Allowance from USPTO dated Jun. 27, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/956,717".|
|25||"Office Action from USPTO dated Apr. 11, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,595".|
|26||"Office Action from USPTO dated Apr. 14, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,627".|
|27||"Office Action from USPTO dated Apr. 17, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,689".|
|28||"Office Action from USPTO dated Apr. 3, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/241,153".|
|29||"Office Action from USPTO dated Apr. 3, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,587".|
|30||"Office Action from USPTO dated Apr. 4, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/957,465".|
|31||"Office Action from USPTO dated Apr. 6, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/956,718".|
|32||"Office Action from USPTO dated Aug. 20, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/302,149".|
|33||"Office Action from USPTO dated Aug. 31, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/889,635".|
|34||"Office Action from USPTO dated Dec. 5, 2006 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/212,425".|
|35||"Office Action from USPTO dated Dec. 7, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/961,463".|
|36||"Office Action from USPTO dated Feb. 12, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 11/057,912".|
|37||"Office Action from USPTO dated Jan. 19, 2006 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/212,425".|
|38||"Office Action from USPTO dated Jan. 19, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/302,149".|
|39||"Office Action from USPTO dated Jan. 9, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/798,468".|
|40||"Office Action from USPTO dated Jan. 9, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 11/608,634".|
|41||"Office Action from USPTO dated Jul. 11, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/263,858".|
|42||"Office Action from USPTO dated Jul. 3, 2007 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/664,548".|
|43||"Office Action from USPTO dated Jun. 1, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/961,463".|
|44||"Office Action from USPTO dated Jun. 25, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/895,175".|
|45||"Office Action from USPTO dated Jun. 26, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,547".|
|46||"Office Action from USPTO dated Jun. 27, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,726".|
|47||"Office Action from USPTO dated Jun. 28, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,529".|
|48||"Office Action from USPTO dated Mar. 20, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,732".|
|49||"Office Action from USPTO dated Mar. 21, 2006 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/889,588".|
|50||"Office Action from USPTO dated Mar. 5, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/889,259".|
|51||"Office Action from USPTO dated Mar. 7, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,629".|
|52||"Office Action from USPTO dated May 14, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/956,502".|
|53||"Office Action from USPTO dated May 15, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/798,527".|
|54||"Office Action from USPTO dated May 2, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 11/307,922".|
|55||"Office Action from USPTO dated May 21, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/212,425".|
|56||"Office Action from USPTO dated Nov. 13, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,586".|
|57||"Office Action from USPTO dated Nov. 13, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,917".|
|58||"Office Action from USPTO dated Nov. 15, 2006 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/263,858".|
|59||"Office Action from USPTO dated Nov. 16, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/241,153".|
|60||"Office Action from USPTO dated Nov. 26, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,547".|
|61||"Office Action from USPTO dated Nov. 26, 2008 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/956,502".|
|62||"Office Action from USPTO dated Oct. 11, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,629".|
|63||"Office Action from USPTO dated Oct. 17, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,917".|
|64||"Office Action from USPTO dated Oct. 18, 2006 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/241,153".|
|65||"Office Action from USPTO dated Oct. 23, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,597".|
|66||"Office Action from USPTO dated Oct. 25, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,491".|
|67||"Office Action from USPTO dated Oct. 25, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,536".|
|68||"Office Action from USPTO dated Oct. 25, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,579".|
|69||"Office Action from USPTO dated Oct. 3, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/956,717".|
|70||"Office Action from USPTO dated Oct. 4, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,627".|
|71||"Office Action from USPTO dated Sep. 10, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/889,255".|
|72||"Office Action from USPTO dated Sep. 14, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,978".|
|73||"Office Action from USPTO dated Sep. 19, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/894,492".|
|74||"Office Action from USPTO dated Sep. 20, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/798,527".|
|75||"Office Action from USPTO dated Sep. 20, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/889,259".|
|76||"Office Action from USPTO dated Sep. 20, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/889,267".|
|77||"Office Action from USPTO dated Sep. 4, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/889,551".|
|78||"Office Action from USPTO dated Sep. 6, 2007 for U.S. Appl. No. 10/889,337".|
|79||Banks, David C., et al., "Link Trunking and Measuring Link Latency in Fibre Channel Fabric", U.S. Appl. No. 60/286,046. 1-52.|
|80||Brown, Douglas W., "A State-Machine Synthesizer", 18th Design Automation Conference, (1981),301-305.|
|81||Clark, Tom, "Zoning for Fibre Channel Fabrics", Vixel Corporation Paper-XP002185194., (Aug. 1999), pp. 1-6.|
|82||Claudio DeSanti, "Virtual Fabrics Switch Support" ; VF Switch Support, T11/04-395v2. Sep. 2004, pp. 1-15.|
|83||Curtis, A. R., "Design Considerations for 10-Gbit Fibre Channel", Curtis A. Ridgeway, Distinguished I/O Architect, Storage and Computing ASIC's Division, LSI Logic Corp.|
|84||DeSanti et al, "Virtual Fabrics"; Virtual Fabrics, T11/03-352v0, May 2003; pp. 1-4.|
|85||International Preliminary Report on Patentability dated Apr. 11, 2007, for International patent application No. PCT/US2005/034845.|
|86||International Preliminary Report on Patentability dated Apr. 3, 2007, for International patent application No. PCT/US2005/034758.|
|87||International Preliminary Report on Patentability dated Apr. 3, 2007, for International patent application No. PCT/US2005/034844.|
|88||International Preliminary Report on Patentability dated Apr. 3, 2007, for International patent application No. PCT/US2005/035064.|
|89||International Preliminary Report on Patentability dated Jul. 24, 2007, for International patent application No. PCT/US2005/42528.|
|90||Malavalli, et al., "Fibre Channel Framing and Signaling (FC-FS) REV 1.10", NCITS working draft proposed American National Standard for Information Technology, (Jan. 25, 2001).|
|91||Malavalli, Kumar, "High Speed Fibre Channel Switching Fabric Devices", Proceedings of the SPIE, SPIE, Bellingham, VA, USA vol. 1577., XP000562869, ISSN: 0277-786X, (Sep. 4, 1991),216-226.|
|92||Malavalli, Kumar, et al., "Distributed Computing with fibre channel fabric", Proc of the Computer Soc. Int'l Conf., Los Alamitos, IEEE Comp Soc. Press., vol. Conf. 37, XP000340745, (Feb. 24, 1992), pp. 269-274.|
|93||Martin et al , "Virtual Channel Architecture" , Presentation by Brocade to T11/03-369V0 dated Jun. 2, 2003.|
|94||Martin, Charles R., "Fabric Interconnection of fibre channel standard nodes", Proceedings of the SPIE, (Sep. 8, 1992), pp. 65-71.|
|95||Melhem, et al., "Minimizing Wavelength Conversions in WDM Path Establishment", Computer Science Department, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, (2001), 197-211.|
|96||Naik, D. "Inside Windows Storage:Server Storage Technologies for Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003 and Beyond", Addison-Wesley, US, Chapter 5, XP-002381152, (Jul. 15, 2003),137-173.|
|97||Pelissier et al, "Inter-Fabric Routing" , dated Jul. 30, 2004, Inter Fabric Routing (04-520v0); pp. 1-31.|
|98||Ridgeway, Curt, "0GFC-40GFC using 4-lane XAUI's", LSI Logic Presentation-T11/03-069v0.|
|99||Yoshida, Hu, "LUN Security Considerations for Storage Area Networks," Hitachi Data Systems Paper-XP 002185193 (1999), pp. 1-7.|
|Patente citante||Fecha de presentación||Fecha de publicación||Solicitante||Título|
|US7969971 *||28 Jun 2011||Cisco Technology, Inc.||Ethernet extension for the data center|
|US8121038||21 Ago 2007||21 Feb 2012||Cisco Technology, Inc.||Backward congestion notification|
|US8149710||5 Jul 2007||3 Abr 2012||Cisco Technology, Inc.||Flexible and hierarchical dynamic buffer allocation|
|US8160094||17 Abr 2012||Cisco Technology, Inc.||Fibre channel over ethernet|
|US8204087 *||19 Jun 2012||Electronics And Telecommunications Research Institute||Multi-lane signal transmitting and receiving apparatuses|
|US8238347||7 Ago 2012||Cisco Technology, Inc.||Fibre channel over ethernet|
|US8259720||4 Sep 2012||Cisco Technology, Inc.||Triple-tier anycast addressing|
|US8565231||20 May 2011||22 Oct 2013||Cisco Technology, Inc.||Ethernet extension for the data center|
|US8724660 *||16 Nov 2010||13 May 2014||Electronics And Telecommunications Research Institute||Transmission and reception apparatus for dynamic lane operation in multi-lane based ethernet system, and method of controlling the same|
|US8743738||13 Ago 2012||3 Jun 2014||Cisco Technology, Inc.||Triple-tier anycast addressing|
|US8792352||5 May 2011||29 Jul 2014||Cisco Technology, Inc.||Methods and devices for backward congestion notification|
|US8804529||24 Ene 2012||12 Ago 2014||Cisco Technology, Inc.||Backward congestion notification|
|US8842694||11 Abr 2012||23 Sep 2014||Cisco Technology, Inc.||Fibre Channel over Ethernet|
|US9246834||15 Sep 2014||26 Ene 2016||Cisco Technology, Inc.||Fibre channel over ethernet|
|US20060101140 *||18 Mar 2005||11 May 2006||Cisco Technology, Inc.||Ethernet extension for the data center|
|US20060251067 *||6 Abr 2006||9 Nov 2006||Cisco Technology, Inc., A Corporation Of California||Fibre channel over ethernet|
|US20080186968 *||2 Feb 2007||7 Ago 2008||Cisco Technology, Inc.||Triple-tier anycast addressing|
|US20090010162 *||5 Jul 2007||8 Ene 2009||Cisco Technology, Inc.||Flexible and hierarchical dynamic buffer allocation|
|US20090052326 *||21 Ago 2007||26 Feb 2009||Cisco Technology, Inc., A Corporation Of California||Backward congestion notification|
|US20090234959 *||17 Mar 2008||17 Sep 2009||Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.||Proxying multiple initiators as a virtual initiator using identifier ranges|
|US20090252038 *||16 Jun 2009||8 Oct 2009||Cisco Technology, Inc.||Fibre channel over ethernet|
|US20100158518 *||9 Dic 2009||24 Jun 2010||Jong-Yoon Shin||Multi-lane signal transmitting and receiving apparatuses|
|US20110149772 *||23 Jun 2011||Electronics And Telecommunications Research Institute||Transmission and reception apparatus for dynamic lane operation in multi-lane based ethernet system, and method of controlling the same|
|Clasificación de EE.UU.||370/437, 370/419, 370/468|
|Clasificación internacional||H04B7/212, H04L12/28, H04L12/56|
|Clasificación cooperativa||H04L49/25, H04L49/357|
|Clasificación europea||H04L49/25, H04L49/35H2|
|20 Jul 2004||AS||Assignment|
Owner name: QLOGIC CORPORATION, CALIFORNIA
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:DROPPS, FRANK R.;ROSS, EDWARD C.;GUSTAFSON, WILLIAM J.;REEL/FRAME:015617/0120;SIGNING DATES FROM 20040708 TO 20040709
|21 Jun 2011||CC||Certificate of correction|
|26 Sep 2012||FPAY||Fee payment|
Year of fee payment: 4